The day and the weather were on a par for the North Ballarat Rebels in a very disappointing performance in their TAC match against the Gippsland Power at AUSTAR Arena on Saturday.
The Power “came to play” in the cold and windy conditions and despite both sides missing top players to the National Championships never gave the Rebels an opportunity in an opening quarter with the wind of three goals to no score.
The ball went back and forth between the two defences until three goals in four minutes gave the visitors a handy lead.
A quick goal to Gippsland against the wind set North Ballarat back as again the defences of both sides were under pressure and the Rebels defence led by Ben Hayes, Oliver Tate and Bryn Weadon did a good job to restrict the opposition to three goals.
The third quarter was all Gippsland as they again exploited the conditions to their advantage with a further six goals while the Rebels despite the hard work of Josh Cowan, Patrick Knott and Jacob Garvey again failed to score into the wind.
Coach Chris Maple stressed to his players at three quarter time that this was important to stand up and fight the game out as percentage could be important in a closely fight for positions in the top eight of the competition.
Conditions didn’t help the game as it took seven minutes into the last term before Jason Linke snapped the only goal for the day for North Ballarat.
The Power answered quickly as the game reverted to a scramble as both sides tired in the conditions.
After the game it was made quite clear to the Rebels boys that next weeks game against the Bendigo Pioneers at Bendigo on Saturday will be a test for them and their ability to regroup after this weeks disappointing performance.
Gippsland Power 13.12 (90) d North Ballarat Rebels 1.4 (10)
Best: Ben Hayes, Bryn Weadon, Oliver Tate, Patrick Knott, Josh Cowan, Jacob Garvey.
Goals: Jason Linke 1.
Last Modified on 08/02/2009 15:14